​You read about it online, you hear about it at seminars…heck, entire books have been written about the subject. The aging population of the average farmer makes it almost imperative that you should be participating. Some in your family may be constantly bringing up the subject matter for discussion.

BUT --- Succession planning just isn’t happening for many family-owned farms. Is it happening on your farm…with your family?

My goal is to motivate you to get started with your succession plan if you haven’t, to encourage you to continue if you have, to jumpstart the process if you’ve stalled or to congratulate you if you are finished!

Some ideas about succession planning to put in your back pocket and ponder…and maybe one day, take action on include:

Succession planning is the development and implementation of a plan to transfer responsibility, operational control, leadership and ownership of the business from one generation to the next. It is logical that since the farm business usually represents over 80% of a family’s net worth, there ought to be a succession plan to manage the transition of the management and ownership of the business from one generation to the next…no?

Succession planning is a complex process, both from an emotional and technical standpoint. It varies with each business. It is difficult because of different needs and wants of those involved – generally all competing for the same scarce resources. It often seems easier to just keep things the way they are rather than navigate through the minefield of differences…let alone having to talk about it. Yuck!

At the start of the planning process the outcome is uncertain. With each step it becomes clearer and uncertainty is reduced. The added clarity helps generate more energy, thus providing the momentum to keep on keepin’ on.

Our experience suggests the following are helpful points to consider with any succession planning process:

Start with the emotional and personal side of things and finish with the financial aspects. Confusion and ambiguity often cloud the process if done in the opposite order.

Involve EVERYONE in the process at some point. Owners, managers, on-farm family, off-farm family…and yes, even the in-laws! Your family and team will likely be more willing to accept the final outcomes if they have had some input into the process.

Don’t worry so much about where you are in the process but make sure you are moving forward.

Succession planning involves choices. Choices can be characterized as perfect, acceptable or unacceptable. If you don’t understand and accept these characterizations, decision-making can become frozen and the planning process will stall.

Stay centered up with what is best for the business. This may or may not be what is best for an individual or one of the families…but generally, what is best for the business is best for the family…and each of its members.

If the process is stalled, look for the emotional rather than the rational reason why it stalled.

Listen, learn, and understand. Don’t judge another person’s position.

Use financial information to take some of the emotion out of the decisions that need to be made.

Someday…maybe soon, or maybe many years in the future, there will be a discussion about your legacy and your contribution toward to your family and your family business. Today’s leadership opportunity enables you to have the most positive influence possible on that legacy. Think about taking it and leading the succession planning conversation and process. Best of luck.

Successful family-owned businesses and especially those that have multi-generations of family members working together in a family understand it’s NOT the decisions they make together, the values they choose together, and the accomplishments they make together…that carry the most weight.

As one of my favorite client's like to say, "The food tastes so much better when everyone helps make it.".

True.

The skills and experience gained while working together… as family members and business colleagues…create far more value to you and your family members. The process and experience are enhanced when you all seek answers together, talk together, learn together, struggle together, get to know one another better, grow more tolerant of one another and learn how to come to agreement as a group. These are the kinds of things that happen when you engage in such processes as developing policies, doing collaborative planning or simply enjoying a family reunion.

​Because process is so important, successful families sometimes make the assumption that whatever policies or statements they create today can be changed three years or five years or a generation from now. Some families believe that policies should have sunset clauses, perhaps extinguishing them every generation. They tell the next generation, sometimes in a preamble, “These policies are important to us and work for us, but if you just embrace them as they are, you will miss the most important part: going through the process of creating your own.”